194 THE HIGHLANDS OF CENTKAL INDIA 



of circumstances as this one, are met with at intervals 

 along almost the whole of the frontier line between the 

 highlands and the open plain. But, alas ! the means at 

 the command of so poor a country as India are unequal 

 to the task of realising her own future ; and the wealth 

 of life-giving water that annually escapes through these 

 imguarded outlets must still, for many a generation, it 

 may be feared, be allowed to waste itself in destructive 

 inundations and fruitless floods. We are only just be- 

 ginning to realise that at the bottom of all India's wretched 

 poverty and backwardness lies the exceeding unfertility 

 of her land in the absence of artificial irrigation. What 

 might be the changes in the physical conditions and 

 economy of India were the annual rainfall saved which 

 now escapes to the sea, it is impossible to foresee. An 

 almost incredible increase in the productiveness of the 

 low country, and the final banishment of the famine 

 demon, would probably be combined with a great ameliora- 

 tion of the climate, and improvement of the forests of 

 the higher regions. 



Gharri is situated on the edge of a table-land of con- 

 siderable extent, but of very irregular outhne; on the 

 north winding round the head of long ravines which drain 

 down into the valley below, and towards the south coming 

 suddenly to a steep drop into the plains of Berar. The 

 more open parts of this table-land have at some remote 

 period been cultivated, the trap boulders having been 

 cleared off and piled into rough walls enclosing large 

 square fields. The land is in many places very deep and 

 rich, and, the elevation being about 2000 feet, it would no 

 doubt grow tea and coffee well. Now it is utterly waste, 

 the lazy Bheels being satisfied with their subsidy from 

 Government, while want of roads, and probably a bad 

 climate, deter the cultivators of the neighbouring plains. 

 There is plenty of water on the top, and one day it wiU 

 doubtless be the seat of a considerable settlement. 



At Gharri, T. went out in the evening, and found two 

 sambar stags feeding on the pods of some acacias on the 

 site of a deserted village. Being a capital stalker and a 

 good shot, he got close in upon them, and bagged both 



